title: A clinical and demographic comparison between a forensic and a general sample of female patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: Diagnoses of psychiatric diseases do not include criminal behavior. In schizophrenia, a non-negligible subgroup is incarcerated for capital and other crimes. Most studies that compared offender and non-offender patients with schizophrenia have only focused on male patients. With this study, we compared demographic and disease-related characteristics between 35 female incarcerated forensic patients (fSZ) and 35 female inpatients with schizophrenia (SZ). Basic clinical documentation and basic forensic clinical documentation revealed significant clinical and demographic differences between the two groups. Compared to SZ, fSZ were more severely clinically impaired, showing higher rates of comorbid alcohol and substance disorder, more suicide attempts, had more previous hospitalizations, and were younger at disease onset. Regarding demographic variables, fSZ showed a higher rate of unemployment and homelessness and had to rely more often on housing and legal guardianships compared to SZ. These results suggest that female forensic patients with schizophrenia are more severely affected by clinical and non-clinical variables requiring an adapted intervention program. These results may also indicate two developmental trajectories for criminal and non-criminal schizophrenia in females.
authors.affiliation: University of Regensburg, Department of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Universitätsstraße 84, 93053 Regensburg, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Landgraf
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blumenauer
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osterheider
authors.forename: Hedwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eisenbarth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011330:Prisons; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted
keywords: Basic clinical documentation; Comorbidities; Females; Forensic incarcerated patients; General psychiatric patients; Schizophrenia